Roman Archaeology Group Inc Volume 6, Issue 1

March, 2011

The RAG

In the 1950s and 1960s humankind was

doomed by an imminent global thermonuclear

war. In the 1970s and 1980s we were doomed by a worldwide population explosion. In both

cases the socio-political responses have so far

obviated the worst risks. We are currently

doomed by climate change, although for some

years now, perhaps a decade, there has always

been a decade left within which we can save

ourselves. Why it is not nine and a half years,

or eleven and three quarters is not clear. And why it is not already too late is more amazing

than the idea that something significant will be

done about it. The effect of carbon on climate

seems to be calibrated against the glacial pace

of the progress of international cooperation.

Maybe that is good: the cooperation seems

unlikely ever to happen and we shall have a

decade left indefinitely.

Apparently the doomsday clock established in

1947 is no longer overwhelmingly governed

by the threat of nuclear conflagration. Its min-

ute hand was on 7 minutes to midnight until

recently when it was advanced by 2 minutes to

reflect the massive threat of manmade envi-

ronmental impacts on the earths ecosystems and climate. The vast majority of the world‘s

people do not have the time, so to speak, to

worry about the clock: they are too busy trying

to feed, clothe and shelter themselves. The

clock is a conceit of the west; as is the idea

that humanity has reached the point where it

can tweak the world‘s temperature regimes.

Enter the Palaeoclimatologists. These are stu-

dents of ancient climates. Amongst the things

that contain the data they need are permanent

icefields which in effect accumulate and retain

a permanent record of change in atmospheric

conditions. Core samples supply the evidence.

In a similar way trees maintain a record of the

conditions in which they grow, and the record

is contained in their growth rings.

The journal Science has recently published a

study of climate change over the past 2,500

years conducted by the Swiss Federal Re-

search Institute for Forrest, Snow and Land-

scape. An international collaboration, which

included archaeologists, produced some 9000

bits of wood sourced in Western Europe, in-

cluding from ancient ruins, providing a profile for the 2,500 year period. The profile enabled

the palaeoclimatologists to determine, within

the statistical limits of the study, the annual

rainfall and temperature for the period of the

study. Growth rates vary in direct proportion

with each of temperature and rainfall, and are

reflected in tree ring width. The results of the

study were correlated with the record of social and political history over the period, calibrated

against an oak tree ring-width chronology. The

findings were that periods of Roman prosper-

ity were associated with especially warm and

wet summers, whilst exceptional variation in

climate occurred over the third to sixth centu-

ries AD. The third century AD was the period of barbarian invasion and widespread political

unrest for ancient Rome, and the report made a

point of noting the correlation of that with

what it referred to as the third century

‗drying‘.

It may be a lot of nonsense of course but there

followed upon this report predictable head-

lines that had the Roman empire being ‗brought down‘ by climate change. A negative

headline is more to be desired than a positive

one, but the story could just have easily been

reported as ‗climate change made Rome‘s ene-

mies prosperous.‘ That headline would have

been as silly as the negative one, and it would

have been politically incorrect as well because we are not supposed to say (or think) anything

positive about climate change.

Change, like climate, is neither inherently

good nor inherently bad. Climate change is a

feature of the behaviour of the earth as a

planet (of which human beings are a natural

component), and the capacity for change is a

feature of the human species as a socio-

political organism.

The effect of climate change on humankind

depends of course on the socio-political re-

sponse to it, but it is that response that is good

or bad—one way or another, the change is

inevitable.

IN THIS ISSUE Climate Change during the Roman Empire

—Good or Bad?

Is this a native American tepee?

See page 6 Ed.

How an Archaeo-

logical Collection

Happened

Joan Howard

2—4

Perceptions and

Reality—

in an Arab Country

Ann Boyer

4—5

The Peoples Pre-

sent in Scotland

during the Roman

Period

Norah Cooper

6—9

Silchester Town

Life Project 2010

Ben Barwood

10—11

Page 2 Volume 6, Issue 1 , March, 2011

Our RAG member Joan Howard shares her home with a fine collection of ancient archaeological artefacts put together in the

course of some twelve years when she lived in the Middle East pursuant to the career of her husband Colonel Keith Howard who

had been a distinguished war veteran. She tells here how she came by these artefacts and highlights the Roman material.

The joy of making a collection of archaeo-

logical artefacts is surpassed by the finding.

This was evident to me nearly 45 years ago,

between 1967 and 1978 when my husband, as

Deputy Chief of Staff, United Nations Truce

Supervision Organization (UNTSO), was

monitoring the hostilities and supervising the

truce between Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan

and Israel.

The United Nations issued me with a ‗Carte

Blanche‘ to cross ―cease fire lines‖, ― buffer

zones‖ and country borders, and to volunteer

or observe at archaeological excavations in

these five countries.

While I was living in Damascus it was possi-

ble for me to attend Prof. J. B. Pritchard‘s

‗dig‘ in Lebanon, travel from Egypt to

Caesarea where Dr. Bull was working and to

move from Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee to

Samaria where Sydney University‘s (John)

Basil Hennessy was with the British School.

My studies were at the Albright Institute in

Jerusalem, the Beirut Archaeological Mu-

seum, the libraries of the Jordanian Rockefel-

ler Archaeological Museum and I attended

lectures given by Jerome Murphy-O‘Connor,

OP, from École Biblique in Jerusalem.

When the official excavations were completed the

treasures discovered were dispersed as follows: The

host country had first choice, and I guess it took at

least half of the finds; the Institution, University or

Archaeological School financing the project, had

second choice; and the professional digging team

had third choice. Volunteers, such as I, were given

an item or two from what was left and these items

were gratefully received.

Because of the continuing unsettling situation and

the three savage wars during these eleven years, the

excavations were hurried, and were sometimes ter-

minated with short notice. From 1967 teams were

precluded from excavating in Petra, the West Bank

of the Jordan, the Egyptian Gaza Strip, the Sinai

and East Jerusalem.

Digs and their dumps became open sites if the

teams were evacuated never to return. With perse-

verance, sifting through this discarded soil would

perhaps yield a bead, a bronze finger ring, a few

tesserae, half a spindle whorl, and certainly pottery

shards.

One particular area of interest for me was the huge dump of spoil from the 1923 excavations at ancient Byblos/Jbeil in Lebanon,

where the French team under Pierre Montet investigated the tomb of the Phoenician King Ahiram (c.1000 BCE). The dig was

How an Archaeological Collection Happened

Joan Howard

Beads, stamped tile of Legio X Fretensis and a dagger blade

Tesserae from a mosaic, pin, bracelet, rings, dice, sigillata

The RAG Page 3

not carried out with the

same meticulous techniques

as would be employed to-

day, and Montet built a tiny

rail to tip huge quantities of

unsifted soil and rubble over

the cliff onto the beach be-

low. It only takes the daily

tide or a rain storm to ex-

pose small treasures, liter-

ally sticking out of the cliff.

L o c a l p e o p l e s t i l l

‗beachcomb‘ every day, and

others pan on the waters

edge for flakes of gold

which they collect in tiny

files. It is amazing how

much is found. After check-

ing with the Beirut Museum,

I was allowed to keep many

items, some of which are

shown in the photo. Also at

the Roman level in this cliff,

was a skull which I have now donated to the Perth Museum, together with a Middle Bronze Age II terracotta pot and a broken

amphora.

Byblos and Damascus, each claiming to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, warm my heart. The three years

living in Damascus, enabled me to freely enjoy the wonders of Palmyra (see RAG 3.1), Aleppo, and Bosra (see RAG 5.3)where

the ancient Roman Empire is so well represented, as seen at massive Baalbek and tranquil Jarash (see this issue of RAG).

One day at my home I received a message from the U.N:

―Proceed immediately to Jerusalem for onward journey

to Cairo. Colonel Howard already in Cairo‖. It meant

just that, move to another county. NOW! Lock up, and

I‘m on a Swiss plane sitting on boxes of medical sup-

plies heading for Cairo. This flight could not be direct

because the Egyptian airport was being bombed, so the

route was over Cyprus, along the Mediterranean, across

Libya and entry to Egypt from the West.

Now in Egypt my studies were directed to the Dynasties

of the Egyptians. After Egypt‘s loss in the Six Day War

in 1967, the Egyptian Museum was selling small items

such as scarabs, faience ushabti (funerary figurines),

mummy masks (cf. RAG 2.1) and mummy beads. A few

of these I was able to purchase and add to my collection,

including a ―heart‖ scarab of the Eleventh Dynasty.

The final two years of my husband‘s commitment in the

Middle East was at the Headquarters of UNTSO in Jeru-

salem - El Quds, ―The Beautiful‖. It was here I received

the gift of the Roman 10th Legion tile showing the

stamp: LE X FR = Legio X Fretensis (photograph next

page). The legion was based in Jerusalem from the end

of the First Jewish War (AD 66-71) till c. AD 300 when

it was shifted to Aila (modern Aqaba) on the Red Sea.

Scores of its stamped tiles have been found in Jerusalem,

the Roman city of Aelia Capitolina (after Constantine,

‗Capitolina‘ was dropped from the name)(see RAG 5.4).

By 1975 hostilities between Israel and her neighbours Syria and Lebanon had quietened a little, so many international dignitaries

visited us in Jerusalem during our final two years there. These kind people often showed their appreciation for any help or hospi-

tality I had given them during their visit, so I sometimes received a treasure such as this Roman tile, a Roman oil lamp, Roman

coins and glass (photographs above), book vouchers and once, a pair of Roman gold earrings—Ladybird Johnson gave me her

signed autobiography with a warm message.

Roman coins – mainly 3rd and 4th century AD and Byzantine

A selection of superb glass vessels

Page 4 Volume 6, Issue 1 , March, 2011

It is easy to walk down-hill following the old Roman road

from Jerusalem to Jericho and to the site of Kypros, there to

rest in the dry rubble of the Winter Palace pool of Herod the

Great where he drowned his Cypriot wife. In the dirt are small

pieces of stucco, coloured fresco, pieces of sigillata (a red

gloss pottery akin to the Samian Ware familiar in the Roman

West) and mosaic tesserae, quite exposed.

As a result of all this, my collection comprises some gifts,

some purchases but mostly finds from diggings. One sad thing

is that, being connected with an United Nations Organisation

operating in a war zone, I was not allowed a camera so I have

no pictorial mementoes of the areas nor of the people in the

archaeological teams.

Even though unrest was ever present and sometimes all move-

ment limited or evacuations necessary, I found my studies and

digging activities absolutely enthralling. It is sufficient that in

1967 my husband was shot in the thigh and in 1970 one side of

my hair was singed off from a bullet that missed—just.

Despite having travelled to Jordan on a number of occasions I am

not an expert on Jordanian society. I offer this as a brief record of

my personal observations.

Jordan is a predominantly Muslim country and unless one is deaf

this is evident all through the day and night. Living in the small

but busy town of Jarash, c. 40 km north of Amman, one hears

each Muezzin/Imam call enthusiastically from his mosque—one

on each town block starts at a slightly different time and has a

unique call. There are many mosques and some Imams are more

musical than others! On that same block you may also find a

Catholic Church, an Orthodox Church and a Baptist Church, all

co-existing happily. The delightful, and formal, religious greeting

is well worth learning as people respond to the respect it requires

of both parties – A salaam Alaykum – ―Peace be to you‖, or –

―The peace of Allah/God come to you‖. The reply being -

Alaykum salaam – ―Allah/God come to you with peace‖. This

defuses most situations, and overcomes officious ticket collec-

tors, who have not noted your pass that is hanging around your

neck. (Thanks to Stafford for producing such official looking

badges!) Then all that is needed is Shukran – ―Thank you‖ and

Ma‘a asalaama – ―Goodbye – more peace‖!

Jordan is a male dominated society but this has its advantages

unheard of in the West. My friend Anne (with an ‗e‘) Poepjes did

not need to worry about buying her car – a male neighbour did

that for her and registered it. When it was damaged in a car crash

– he and a friend took it to Amman for the repairs and returned it

to Anne with fresh paint and a new windscreen as an added bo-

nus. Drive through the streets at night and see all the men scurry-

ing home with bags of groceries. Men are happy to buy anything

their women need including very personal items! Need more

cooking gas – the trucks drive around the streets playing music,

like an ice-cream van; and they will carry the empty tank down

from your apartment and return with the full one. Don went to

the best Dentist in Amman and returned completely thrilled by

the beautiful lady Dentist who offered him a second opinion from

a male dentist, which he declined. Great service and very reason-

able account. The local Pharmacy is also priced for the Jordanian

average wage and serves the population well for minor ailments

Perceptions and Reality—

in an Arab Country

Ann Boyer

A selection of Roman lamps. Note the cross.

Stone theatre masks

Ann Boyer, accompanied by the Royal Jordanian Army Buskers, showing the locals how to dance

The RAG Page 5

– he will discuss symptoms and cures with tourists without em-

barrassment.

Women wear the hijab – not all of them – the Queen is seen on

huge posters in evening dress with beautiful flowing hair. Many

modern women in Amman choose not to wear the hijab. The

makeup is wonderful on many who choose to wear it and some-

times the outfit is colourful, tight fitting and shows all the

curves. It does, however, prevent too much exposure to the sun,

and pale skin is considered beautiful in Jordan. Watch a lady in

full flowing gown and hijab walking down the street arm in arm

with her Christian neighbour and friend, who wears tight jeans,

hair exposed and has bare arms and neck. Visit the Baptist

Church with the lady organist in red, short-sleeved blouse and

black trousers but watch another lady in a Dutch Lace cap –

worn only for prayers and communion. Be greeted by the pastor

with both hands holding yours – and he will translate the hymns

and explain his sermon in perfect English so you feel part of the

congregation. Watch young women in bright coloured hijabs

and jeans sitting in cafes in Amman smoking their shisha (or

hookah or bubblepipe) with sweet-smelling fruit tobacco such as

apple or cherry or grape. Visit the Hamam, Turkish bath house,

on Ladies Day and nobody is wearing anything for the mas-

sages!

Men and women don’t mix – After a wonderful evening meal

overlooking the floodlit Citadel in Amman we walked along

Rainbow Street – Amman‘s equivalent of Northbridge – inter-

esting cafes, book shops, jewellery stalls and the following day a

wonderful craft souk. The men in my group were ahead and

seemed to have forgotten me. I was walking slower to take in

the family groups – sitting, smiling, eating from stalls, talking

and greeting me as an obvious tourist with genuine hospitality –

―Welcome to Jordan.‖ Cars stopped at side roads to allow pe-

destrians to cross. No one became impatient at frequent traffic

jams as taxis dropped off customers in the narrow street. At no

time did we feel unsafe even when using the machine outside

the bank – there were no drunks – Muslims do not approve of

alcohol but are happy to drink large quantities of sweet tea with

lemon or mint and small cups of coffee. Taxi drivers beep gently

when they see a lady walking down a road in Amman to tell her

that they are available. They are a very cheap form of transport

and offer change for the fare. She walks on the road because the

pavement outside big houses is planted with olive trees. The

gardens within the walls have fruit trees – all Jordanians prefer

to retain their relationship with the land and own some olive

trees at least.

Hospitality – This is amazing. We could be working on the sur-

vey when someone – a stranger - would appear, to ask us in for

a cup of tea – even during the day during Ramadan. We learnt

to get off the streets before sunset during Ramadan or total

strangers would send out the teenage son to invite us to Iftar –

the evening meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan. The land-

lady of Anne‘s daughter appeared with trays of coffee cups for

the visitors, and the coffee is black, usually sweet and delicious.

People would slow their car and call out – ―Welcome to Jor-

dan.‖ My husband Don, and Karen Henderson, working in the

southern Basalt Desert, were approached, in the middle of no-

where, by the local police with – ―Welcome to Jordan‖, before

they were asked for their papers. The following day the police

appeared, this time in uniform, walking across the desert with a

bucket containing … kettle, cups and teabags to refresh the visi-

tors! This can slow up the Archaeology, but who could refuse

such nice people?

You have to bargain when you buy – Well, yes you do but

Anne‘s advice was pay what you think it is worth. What she had

forgotten to mention was, once they consider you a friend or a

friend of Miss Anne, they may not allow you to pay the full

price – most embarrassing watching the buyer try to pay 5JD

when the seller only wants 3JD. My beautiful embroidered ta-

blecloth came with a special discount because Anne teaches the

lady‘s son. The lady in the Post Office at the tourist souk in

Jarash – very efficient but firm about the rules and capable of

coping with English, French and German tourists - assured me

that we were now friends as I had asked for her help and visited

her Post office three times wearing my badge. After that nothing

was too much trouble.

Jordanians do not fix their plumbing – I am not sure who in-

stalls it in the first place, perhaps an overseas worker, but this is

one perception, which is unfortunately true. When we asked for

help with the bathroom water heater three men stood in the bath-

room discussing loudly the burnt plug – banged the heater with

a fist, dropped ash on the floor from their cigarettes, and left.

The heater worked after that, the plug heated too, but the toilet

still wobbled precariously, as it had two years before, and the

seat was still only attached on one side. Don‘t ask about the

wiring – electricity connections are a miracle or a mess, or both.

Each Jordanian man must be his own boss – not work for others

- unless he works for the Government. You can find three Mo-

bile phone shops, all about two metres wide, next to each other

on any street.

Thanks to David Kennedy‘s initial invitation we have enjoyed

visiting Jordan with its quirky plumbing, its wonderfully hospi-

table people and its amazing historical sites. I recommend it as a

safe place to visit - even the helicopter pilots who fly David‘s

aerial surveys perform miracles to keep their passengers safe.

Ann and husband Don

Page 6 Volume 6, Issue 1 , March, 2011

Prior to the Roman invasions of the island referred to as Britannia (beginning with Julius Caesar‘s two incursions 55 and 54 BC),

it was regarded as a mysterious, frightening and barbaric place - across Oceanus, at the end of the world and filled with people

who were uncivilised. In fact after Caesar‘s campaigns had failed to bring massive riches back to Rome, Cicero said that there

was no longer ―any prospect of booty except slaves‖ and (sarcastically) that these slaves were not expected to be ―accomplished

in literature and music‖. However, as Mattingly (2007) says, AD 43 (date of Claudius‘ invasion of Britannia) ―does not mark the

start of civilisation and history in Britain … it marks just one stage in a much longer process of integration of parts of Britain

with a wider European world‖.

The northern Britons at the time of the Roman occupation were a disparate and complex group of peoples. Often the only way of

discovering who these people were, and understanding their way of life at this period, is to look at the archaeology which is best

represented by physical, often stone, structures. This article, the second of two (see RAG 5.2, Roman presence in Tayside area of

Eastern Scotland, whose subject was stone structures known as souterrains), focuses on the fortified structures in Scotland, in-

cluding hill forts, crannogs and, in particular, brochs (stone buildings unique to Scotland), and what these structures tell us about

the people who built them.

In this article, for clarity, I will refer to Scotland as we know it today, though the place did not exist as a nation until the 9th cen-

tury and to the Romans it was simply the northern part of the island of Britannia, partly in but largely outside their province of

the same name. Most of it was not part of the Empire and, in fact, the Romans never penetrated the Scottish highland region

though they skirted round the eastern edge and have been traced as far as the Moray Firth plan between Inverness and Aberdeen.

The Scottish coun-

tryside is dotted

with fortified sites

(photo opposite)

most of which date

from the Iron Age

(600 BC- AD 78).

Prior to the Romans

in Britain, the hill

fort, or dun, played

a major role in the

indigenous society. A dun encloses an area of c. 375 sq m., usually circular or oval and characterised by a thick dry-stone wall.

Duns have a wide distribution in western and southern Scotland with most occurring on rocky hills. They are normally built with

a solid rubble core between stone facings with timber lacing to stabilise the walls. Although timber-faced duns may be as early

as 700-600 BC, it is thought that most solid walled duns were probably contemporary with brochs (see below) in later centuries.

The term dun is still commonly used in Scotland as part of place names e.g. Dundee, Dunblane and Dunkeld.

Crannogs were timber houses built on an

artificial island linked to the shore by a

stone causeway or timber gangway from 1st

millennium BC till historical times (photo

opposite). The remains of crannogs are

found in many Scottish lochs, particularly

in the Highlands. Crannogs, like the Oak-

bank Crannog near Kenmore on Loch Tay

which dates from 500 BC have been recon-

structed as a result of underwater archaeo-

logical excavations. They are circular, tim-

ber platforms, with a large, timber round-

house built on oak piles driven deep into

the loch bed. The walls are made of hazel

rods, woven together, and the thatched roof

is pitched steeply enough to allow rain to

drain off. Inside, the floor is covered with

bracken and ferns, with a flat, stone fire-

place in the centre which would have been

the focus of family life.

The Peoples Present in Scotland during the Roman Period

Norah Cooper

.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Crannog_-

A reconstructed crannog

The hill-fort of Traprain Law, East Lothian east of Edinburgh

Page 7 The RAG

Brochs, from Lowland Scots ‗brough‘, meaning (among

other things) fort, are circular stone towers that stood

alone or more usually were associated with small settle-

ments. There is debate over the dates of brochs (from

600 BC-AD 100) but certainly, by 100BC it was a new

type of fortification which had evolved in and was

unique to Scotland. Almost 500 have been recorded

mostly in the far north of mainland Scotland, the North-

ern Isles, western Scotland, the Hebrides, the Orkney

and the Shetland Isles (Map opposite). They were built

over a short span of 200 years, before what is regarded

as the Pictish era (see below).

They were fortified dwelling houses serving a family or

village rather than designed to protect larger communi-

ties and were therefore similar to the duns found further

south in Scotland. They became much larger fortifica-

tions for larger communities in later periods.

Essentially they are dry stone-towers (photograph be-

low) and despite the wide geographic distribution they

are very uniform in that they are circular, with a tapering

profile and hollow-wall construction (drawing top next

page). The broch in Mousa, Shetland, today is 13 m high

but was 28 m high originally with an overall diameter of

15.2 m. The characteristic hollow wall was achieved by

building an inner and outer casement wall bonded to-

gether by horizontal stone slabs which created a series of

superimposed galleries within the wall. A stairway led

clockwise up through the galleries. A single entrance at

or just above ground level was the only opening in the

wall and allowed easy defence. The hollow wall con-

struction lightened the structure and allowed the great

height. Ledges supported by wooden posts carried a tim-

ber gallery for living accommodation. There was a cen-

tral hearth on the floor.

There is still much debate by archaeologists regarding who built the brochs and what was their purpose. It has been suggested

that they were constructed by engineers who moved throughout the area building for elite families. Some archaeologists doubt

that there ever was a single common purpose for which every broch was constructed because of differences between brochs with

regard to position, dimensions and likely status.

Geographically brochs were con-

centrated in north Scotland and

the Northern Isles but there is a

scatter of brochs around the

firths of the Forth and Tay and it

has been suggested that these

brochs were commissioned by

leading families seeking protec-

tion against the Roman Army. At

Buchlyvie, an earlier timber

house was replaced by a solid-

based broch in the late 1st cen-

tury AD. At this site and at

Leckie there are finds that in-

clude bronze jewellery and Ro-

man imports. Leckie was de-

stroyed in the early second cen-

tury perhaps by Roman punitive

raids. The Roman army with its

war machines was the only force

capable of successfully attacking

a broch. (Photo opposite: Gle-

nelg Broch)

Scotland in the Roman period: adapted from Mattingly (2007)

Page 8 Volume 6, Issue 1 , March, 2011

Some massive Iron Age stone-walled roundhouses in Angus (area around Dundee) are so-called ‗southern brochs‘, an example is

Laws of Monifieth near Dundee (photograph below). These have architectural characteristics of the towers found along the west

and north Atlantic. These buildings were occupied at some point during the first two centuries AD to judge from dating and

quantity of Roman origin artefacts found in them. They may have been built in response to pressures or events associated with

the Roman presence but the archaeological evidence is unclear. There are three possible scenarios for the presence of these

southern brochs:- firstly, they were built by broch-dwelling northerners who moved south to capitalise on a power vacuum after

the first withdrawal of the Romans from Scotland in the late1st century; secondly, they were deliberately set up by Roman com-

manders with local leaders as puppets to control the local populations; or thirdly, they were built by indigenous local elites who

required a more substantial stone building than a timber roundhouse and who adapted the broch architecture to fulfil this require-

ment.

Caesar and the geographer Strabo wrote about the

peoples of Southern Britain but Tacitus, Cassius

Dio and Herodian wrote about the northern peo-

ples. Although all ancient authors were prone to

describing them contemptuously as stereotypical

barbarians, it is evident from the size and com-

plexity of the structures described here that these

people were well organised and settled with a

domestic economy which could sustain relatively

large communities. Over hundreds of years they

had built and sustained large communities and

though belonging to different tribal groups they

could come together in the face of a major exter-

nal threat - the Romans.

The archaeological record of the Roman presence

in Scotland is extensive (map previous page) with

many Roman finds associated with the duns and

southern brochs e.g. the Traprain Treasure now at

the National Museum of Scotland which is the

largest and most important hoard of late Roman

silver from beyond the edge of the Roman empire

(photograph page opposite). However, for the

Broch (Section elevation drawn by Hugh McGhee)

(Photo N. Cooper)

Page 9 The RAG

majority of the peoples in Scotland, the only con-

tact they would have had with the Romans would

have been in supplying garrisons with produce or

meeting the Romans in battle.

In AD 150, the Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy

produced a map roughly covering present day

Scotland with twelve tribes listed on it. These

would later be described by the generic term Picti

(―Painted people‖), a term first used by the Ro-

man writer Eumenius AD 297 more than a cen-

tury before the Romans left Britain. By the 4th

century the Picts, a coalition of native tribes, were

a distinct political and military entity capable of

forging alliances with other ‗barbarian‘ groups in

particular the Scotti - which probably meant sea

raiders, who had come over from Ireland and

later became established on the west coast of

Scotland. The Scots harassed the coastline of Ro-

man Britain and together with the Picts overran

Hadrian‘s Wall in AD 367. It is often asked ―Did

the Romans create the Picts?‖ by forcing the Iron

Age tribes of north-east Scotland ultimately to coalesce in response to the presence of and the military threat of the Romans;

causing previous disparate groups to merge into one political, military group. It is an interesting possibility that Roman military

strength brought about groupings of weaker peoples beyond the frontiers who thereby became a greater danger.

The Picts were a major kingdom in Scotland until the 9th century when King

Kenneth McAlpine (843-58) defeated them and ruled over them and the other

major tribe, the Scots, leading to the foundation of the Scottish Kingdom.

What did these people look like? Defeated warriors are depicted on the Roman

distance-slab from Bridgeness, West Lothian. This shows two rectangular

shields with round bosses to protect the handgrip and an elaborate hilted sword

and naked barbarians demonstrating their disdain for defensive armour

(photograph opposite), though in Tacitus‘ Agricola, there is no mention of ritual

nakedness among native troops at the victorious Roman battle of Mons Graupius

(AD 83) against the northern army in North Eastern Scotland. Another distance

slab from Balmuidy (photo below) again depicts naked natives.

There are also descriptions in the Agricola and by Cassius Dio of the use of war-

chariots by the tribes of eastern Scotland though these had gone out of fashion on

continental Europe by the 2nd century BC.

Cicero was correct when he said that slaves captured in Britannia would not have

been accomplished in literature. The northern Britons were illiterate but certainly

these people were accomplished in many of the basic features of civilisation.

References:

D. Mattingly (2007): An Imperial Possession. Britain in the Roman Empire 54 BC- AD 409, London (Penguin).

A. Konstam (2010): Strongholds of the Picts. The fortifications of Dark Age Scotland, Osprey Publishing Ltd.

For the Emperor Caesar

Titus Aelius Hadrianus

Antoninus Augustus Pius,

Father of his Country, the

Sixth Victorious, Loyal and

Faithful Legion (completed

the wall) over

a distance of 3666 1/2 paces

© National Museum of Scotland

Page 10 The RAG

Ben Barwood was the 2010 recipient of the Don Boyer Roman Archaeology Travel Scholarship (RAG 5.4). He applied the schol-

arship to the cost of extensive travel around mainly Roman sites and museums in London and the Middle East. First, however, he

began at Silchester which has seen a succession of UWA students in previous years (Rebecca Banks and Iain Gately – RAG 3.4

and 4.4)

If ever you feel the need to gain some archaeological field experience and your history with archaeology is blank I strongly recom-

mend looking no further than the Silchester Town Life Project. Located about 10 miles out of Reading, in the UK, Silchester is a

field school set up and run by Professor Michael Fulford and Amanda Clarke.

Educationally, Silchester will

start from scratch and intro-

duce you to the basics of ar-

chaeology over a period of

three days. During this time

you‘ll begin to gain experience

―in the trench‖ (referring to the

archaeological area of the site)

and other areas of archaeology,

including flotation, finds sort-

ing and site planning. Though I

went to Silchester with a some-

what romantic and gentle-

manly idea of archaeology I

quickly had my vision of the

profession revised on site.

There is virtually nothing in

the realm of archaeology

you‘ll be held back from. Each

week you are required to spend

at least one morning or after-

noon helping with finds or

flotation. The remainder of

your time is generally spent

planning areas of the dig site, excavating (which is quite a complex skill) or attending the optional lectures available. In relation to

archaeology Silchester is a school designed to give you hands-on experience regardless of how much experience you have prior to

arriving on the site.

The series of lectures available each week de-

serves special mention here. They range from

the very physical weaponry workshop to spe-

cial one-off talks about the changing interpreta-

tions of henge monuments. Completely free and

voluntary these talks and workshops add an

extra level to Silchester, allowing you to see

many of the experts from the University of

Reading, and the surrounding country, show-

case much of their research.

Lastly, at each week‘s end Professor Fulford

conducts a guided tour of the site for everybody

involved, talking about each section in detail,

nicely bringing the whole project into context.

Despite the fantastic set up Silchester has for

getting people off the ground with archaeology,

it‘s the people that really make and complete

the Silchester experience. You‘ll not have been

Silchester Town Life Project 2010

Ben Barwood

Silchester Town Life Project

The diggers‘ camp

Page 11 Volume 6, Issue 1 , March, 2011

at Silchester more than five minutes

before you find yourself talking, laugh-

ing and sharing a meal with your peers.

As an undergraduate myself, I was

surrounded by people around my age

and stage of life, many studying ar-

chaeology at Reading University. The

atmosphere in the campsite and mar-

quee after work has finished for the day

is a joy to be a part of. Games of foot-

ball, pockets of varying musical genres

and people sitting outside tents sharing

a drink and a bite to eat are sights you

see everyday.

Whether you‘re a first timer (like my-

self), a regular, or an old timer (some

of the people working on the site have

been attending since the current Sil-

chester field school was founded),

you‘ll find yourself fitting in and mak-

ing new friends.

I‘m still in regular communication with the friends I‘ve made at Silchester and out of a three and a half month trip I count Silches-

ter as one of my top highlights. To put my enjoyment of the field school, and all that goes with it, in perspective I registered for a

two week stay in Silchester and ended up staying for over three weeks. I tried to leave at least four times that I can remember and

ended up back in my tent each time. An Australian woman, there at the same time as I, left and returned half a week later, missing

the site too much to stay away.

I hope this article on my recent experiences at Silchester inspires readers to visit the field school, for it is truly an amazing facility

for anyone interested in archaeology, as a beginner or a veteran, and well worth your time and effort for a visit.

I would like to thank Professor David Kennedy for making me aware of Silchester and, along with the rest of the Roman Archae-

ology Group especially Don Boyer, making it possible for me to visit the school. I cannot recommend the site highly enough to

anybody.

Final week: Fancy Dress Beer Festival

View over the trench of 2010 before work started for the day l

Membership of The

RAG Roman Archaeology at UWA

The RAG Newsletter

Correspondence to the Editor:

Kevin J. O’Toole

Legal Services

University of Western Australia,

Stirling Highway,

CRAWLEY WA 6009

Tel: (08) 64884709

E-mail: kevin.otoole@uwa.edu.au

The RAG Inc

www.romarchgroup.humanities.uwa.edu.au/

Chairman

Professor David Kennedy

M205 Classics and Ancient History

University of Western Australia

Stirling Highway

CRAWLEY WA 6009

E-mail: dkennedy@cyllene.uwa.au

Tel: 08 64882150

Fax: 08 64881182

Deputy Chairman

Rodney Greaves

rodneygreaves@iinet.net.au

0438 941 582

Secretary

Norah Cooper

coopsathome@optusnet.com.au

Treasurer

Maire Gomes

E-mail: gomescm@bigpond.com

The RAG

$25.00 Ordinary membership

$35.00 Family membership 1 (2 adults; 1

copy of RAG magazine)

$50.00 Family membership 2 (4 family

members; 1 copy of RAG magazine)

$50.00 School membership (2 copies of

RAG magazine)

$10.00 Student membership

Complete and post the form with this edi-

tion of the RAG or contact The Treasurer at

the email address below.

David Kennedy Fieldwork

From late April David Kennedy will be

doing archival research in Italy – part in

Rome and part at the University of Siena,

which has one of the biggest training

programmes in Aerial Archaeology in

Europe.

He will then spend three weeks in Lon-

don researching at The National Archive,

the office of the Palestine Exploration

Fund, and the Imperial War Museum.

Then he will spend two weeks devoted to

giving lectures at universities (starting at

Exeter), archival research in Oxford, and

visits to sites with Roman replicas

(Manchester and South Shields in par-

ticular).

All that will be followed in late Septem-

ber by the next season of the Aerial Ar-

chaeology in Jordan project – 6 weeks of

flying and ground work.

Dr Mike Bishop

The Aerial Archaeology in Jordan Project

had a bonus last year. For 6 weeks in

November-December, Dr Michael Bishop

was here at UWA from his home in Dar-

lington in the UK. Dr Bishop‘s principal

area of expertise is Roman military

equipment on which he has published

extensively. However, he has developed a

keen mind for the task of categorization,

and creating typologies. During his stay,

funded by the Packard Humanities Insti-

tute, he worked with David Kennedy on a

pilot study investigating the traces of

archaeological sites for Saudi Arabia

visible in high-resolution windows of

Google Earth. The research identified

almost 2000 'sites' in a region in which

virtually nothing had previously been

recorded.

The outcome was an article they submit-

ted to the prestigious Journal of Ar-

chaeological Science. The article was

accepted immediately, an online version

was put on the Journal of Archaeological

Science web site in mid-January, and the

hard copy should appear any day. A copy

of the full article will be posted on the

RAG web site.

The online version immediately caught

attention and ‗went viral‘ as the saying

goes and there have been radio interviews

broadcast from Radio New Zealand and

as far afield as Deutschlandfunk (‗the

German BBC‘) and CBC in Toronto.

There has also been a spate of articles, in

the press from New Scientist, the Daily

Telegraph (UK), Sydney Morning Herald

and the Times of India, and in online

sites.

Simon Rutter

Our Aerial Archaeology in Jordan project

was hit hard by the sudden and very

tragic death in late 2009 of its relatively

young and highly skilled IT expert Mike

Neville. He had taken a keen interest in

the project and had twice visited Jordan

for the project.

It has been very difficult to replace Mike

Neville but Simon Rutter, IT Manager for

the Faculty of Arts, has now agreed to

provide IT support for the Project.

Simon is from the Northeast of England,

and he has extensive experience not just

in computing but also in GPS work.

He spent part of his childhood in Saudi

Arabia, and more recently he has worked

in Afghanistan.

Grants

Congratulations to three of our students

who have been awarded grants to support

their fieldwork:

Karen Henderson (Jordan)

Martina Müller (Germany)

and

Graham Sylvester (Turkey)

The Packard Humanities Institute has

provided a grant of US$400,000 for 2011

for David Kennedy's Aerial Archaeology

in Jordan project.

UWA Friends of the Library

David Kennedy is due to give a talk on

―Recording and Records in the Roman

Empire‖ on 12 April at 7.30 for 8.00 in

the meeting room on the 3rd floor of the

New Science Library at UWA.

RAG Winter Programme

The theme for our next season of lectures

in July to September will be ―Villas in

the Roman World‖.

The lectures will include talks on Ha-

drian‘s Villa at Tivoli; the villa at Piazza

Armerina in Sicily; villas in Roman Brit-

ain; and Roman villas on the Greek is-

land of Delos.

The programme will be circulated at a

later date and posted on the web site.

Volume 6, Issue 1 , March, 2011